title: Evaluating volume status in hemodialysis patients.
abstract: Accurate determination of the volume and distribution of body fluids in end stage renal disease patients will permit improved assessment of dry weight and strategies for optimal fluid removal. Certain biochemical markers and anatomical measures have been proposed as markers of dry weight, but these markers primarily reflect the volume of the intravascular compartment and may not reflect total body volume status. Noninvasive determination of total body water and extracellular fluid volumes using bioimpedance analyses has also been proposed for assessment of dry weight, but such determinations do not yet have sufficient accuracy for routine use. Several devices have been recently developed for continuously monitoring changes in blood volume on-line during routine hemodialysis. Such blood volume monitors cannot be used to determine dry weight directly; however, continuous monitoring of blood volume can be used to detect fluid overload because intradialytic changes in blood volume are small in hemodialysis patients who are overhydrated. Furthermore, continuous monitoring of blood volume can be used to predict symptoms resulting from intradialytic hypovolemia. The combined use of blood volume monitoring and time-dependent ultrafiltration and dialysate sodium profiles will be used increasingly in the future to assist in the prevention of hypotension and symptoms that result from intradialytic hypovolemia, especially when automated systems for controlling intradialytic blood volume are individualized and shown to be safe and effective.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Medical Center; and Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112, USA.
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Leypoldt
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Cheung
mesh_terms: D001810:Blood Volume; D001834:Body Water; D005110:Extracellular Space; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D006435:Renal Dialysis